Paleobiological implications of chevron pathology in the sauropodomorph Plateosaurus trossingensis from the Upper Triassic of SW Germany
Schaeffer, Joep (Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart)
Wolff, Ewan (University of New Mexico)
Witzmann, Florian (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin)
Ferreira, Gabriel S. (University of Tübingen. Department of Geosciences)
Schoch, Rainer R. (Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart)
Mujal, Eudald (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)

Date:	2024
Abstract:	Paleopathology, the study of diseases and injuries from the fossil record, allows for a unique view into the life of prehistoric animals. Pathologies have nowadays been described in nearly all groups of fossil vertebrates, especially dinosaurs. Despite the large number of skeletons, pathologies had never been reported in the sauropodomorph Plateosaurus trossingensis. Here we describe the first pathologies of Plateosaurus using two individuals with pathologies in the chevrons of the tail, from the Upper Triassic of Trossingen, SW Germany. The two specimens each contain three consecutive pathological chevrons. Our results show that the pathologies were caused by external trauma in one individual and potentially tendinous trauma in the other. Healing of the lesions allowed survival of both animals. Using additional pathological specimens found in other collections and from multiple localities, we observe that 14. 8% of all individuals of Plateosaurus contain pathologies within their chevrons, suggesting it was a vulnerable bone.
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Published in:	PloS one, Vol 19, Issue 7 (July 2024) , art. e0306819, ISSN 1932-6203

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0306819
PMID: 39083447

16 p, 2.5 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles